U.S. Life Expectancy Drops Again Amid Opioid Crisis
- First time in more than 50 years that it fell twice in a row
- Deaths linked to synthetic opioids doubled from 2015 to 2016
An exam bed in a hospital in the U.S.
Photographer: Daniel Acker/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Americans’ life expectancy at birth declined for the second year in a row in 2016 as the nation grappled with an opioid crisis, the first time that’s happened in more than half a century.
The overall decrease in longevity -- to an average of 78.6 years -- was driven by higher death rates among young and middle-aged Americans, even as older people are living longer. Fatal drug overdoses jumped by 21 percent, and the rate of deaths from synthetic opioids like fentanyl doubled from 2015 to 2016, the National Center for Health Statistics said Thursday.